Recreational vehicles have become a very popular way of traveling, especially for extended periods of time. These vehicles are equipped with a wide variety of amenities that are normally found in a residence. These include fully appointed kitchens, complete bathrooms, laundry facilities, and entertainment centers. For many years, trailers have incorporated expandable rooms, sometimes called slide outs, to increase the interior space while parked and yet maintain legal size requirements while in motion. In the past decade, expandable rooms have become very common in motorhome applications. Owners continue to want more space and more luxurious amenities. In recent years, consumer demands have resulted in manufacturers adding multiple slide-outs to their production models, sometimes as many as four or five in a forty or forty-five foot model. When the expandable rooms are retracted, cupboards, appliances, fixtures, and other components can be inaccessible. This is of more concern in motorhome applications than trailers because people occupy a motorhome, but not a trailer, while in motion. When the expandable room is retracted, the appearance is less pleasing because of the intrusion of the box-like structure through the side wall of the vehicle. Even though current production models are advertised as having six feet or more height in the slide-out room, the height of the primary vehicle is often more than 12xe2x80x3 higher than the slide-out module. This difference exists because the room telescopes into the side wall. In addition, conventional recreational vehicles partly rely on the side walls for structural support so multiple small slide-out rooms significantly diminish the strength and integrity of the vehicle.
The present invention, which uses one or two large slide out assemblies rather than multiple small rooms, provides increased living area when expanded, less intrusion on interior space when retracted, and the same interior ceiling height as the rest of the vehicle because the ceiling of the slide-out module telescopes into the roof of the primary vehicle rather than the side wall.
The present invention is a full body or multiple slide out assembly for all types of recreational vehicles. There is a front and rear stationary module and the entire length between the modules can be deployed outwardly from one or both sides, which can nearly double the interior living space. When retracted for travel, the vehicle body meets legal size restrictions. Because the roof of the full body slide moves between the stationary center section interior ceiling and the exterior roof, the appearance of the ceiling remains unchanged and is aesthetically pleasing whether the full body slide is deployed or retracted, and the interior height of the slide-out module is the same as the stationary module.
There is a center or offset longitudinal truss or trusses below the floor level and a longitudinal central spar with lateral ribs at the roof level. The full body slides can be deployed or retracted using a variety of techniques, including manual, hydraulic, electric, mechanical, or a combination of two or more of these methods. The slides can be locked in a retracted or deployed position. In a motorhome application, the front stationary module contains the driver""s cab area, including a co-pilot""s seat. This area is similar to that in a conventional motorhome. The rear can be any optional room designation such as bathroom, bedroom, or office. In a trailer application, both the front and rear modules can be any optional room designation.
When the full body slides are retracted the floors of each full body slide meet in the middle to create an even, level floor that is contiguous from front to rear and side to side. When the full body slides are extended, a sub-floor automatically elevates to yield a level floor. The sub-floor may be raised and lowered using different means including air pressure, hydraulic pressure or electro-mechanical drive mechanisms.